Egypt Independent

Foreign reserves rise to $44.2 bn by end of June

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)’s foreign cash reserves rose by $119 million in June to reach a total of $44.2 billion, the CBE announced in a statement Thursday.

The net foreign reserves rose to $44.258 billion at the end of June, compared with $44.139 billion at the end of May. Foreign cash reserves previously rose by $109 million last May.

Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves were around $36 billion before the January 2011 revolution. It fell to nearly $19 billion before a $12 billion loan was signed with the International Monetary Fund in November 2016.

The flotation of the Egyptian pound and high interest rates helped attract foreign investment in government debt instruments, which reached about $23 billion at the end of March.

Egypt has expanded foreign borrowing in hard currency over the past months to finance the budget deficit and to provide US dollar on market in an attempt to control the exchange rate and eliminate the black market.